First post here - unfortunately with a little challenge…
I finished building my LR4 over the holidays, cut the strut plates and Dougs table. I’m really amazed by this machine, great work from your side - thank you!
My problem is that I keep getting z-max drops during cuts.
My setup:
LR4, 900 mm (X), 1500 mm (Y). Jackpot board with 3.7.16 firmware, FluidDial pendant, original V1 power supply, Makita router, cooling fan in V1 Jackpot housing
I have the impression that z_max de-powers and drops all the way down. It is not just losing steps. So far this happened 3-4 times on z_max side, with the router running and the core on z_max side. The drops occurred both while cutting and during air-movements, but always with router running.
Could this be an electric interference issue? z_max cables are pretty long and routed in parallel to y_max cables (see picture).
Would it make sense to reduce z-acceleration - currently at 80 mm/s²? Or max z-speed - currently at 1200 m/min? …though my first z-drop occured during a cut at constant z. Maybe increase hold current - currently 500 mA?
The linear rails at z_max are moving smoothly and I lubed the spindles. When moving around with router off I never had a z-drop so far.
i use my machines with a z max speed of 480mm/min locked by software, even my workbee cnc that runs on fluidnc also.
1200mm/min its a bit too much for the z axis.
I had the same issue of the Z dropping while cutting with my LR4/Makita 701 router.
I got my jackpot straight from the V1 store and the Z stepper run amperage was set to .8 and hold amperage to .7
I upped the run amperage to .9 and hold to .8 and I’ve had no issues since.
.5 amps is what’s in the GitHub settings file but it’s likely too low for you. I’d at least take it up to .8 and .7 amps.
Ryan warned me not to go to 1.0 amps because the steppers would need active cooling. So keep an eye on things ay you boost current.
Thanks for the hints! I limited z-speed to 480 mm/min (down from 1200) and z-acceleration to 50 mm/s² (down from 80) in my FluidNC config file and ran a 1.5h spoil board planing without issues (though basically no z-moves here…).
The Jackpot came with 1200 mm/min configured for z. My gcode is generated in FreeCAD and the problem might have been that at the beginning of the gcode file a “G0 Z25” is issued without a feedrate set. I guess this would then default to whatever is set in the Jackpot config file.
accel you can leave at stock they are good, with limiting the z axis moves and making your amps to .7-0.8 you are good to go, 20mm/s z movements are a bit too much
I would be looking at the electrical connection to the Z Max motor. An intermittent connection at the extension cable could be flexing and causing the motor to lose power and drop.
Having the same issue. Just finished the build, but the Z0 stepper seems to “shut off” randomly. I have tried several crown cuts and it always fails in different locations.
I tried slowing down the Z, no good
I tried re tightening the Z rod, nothing
I tried upping the amperage from .8 and .7 to .9 and .8, no change
There’s no extension cable for plugs to come undone for my 0 side so that’s not it. Built using the V1e kit and a Jackpot board. Any where else to look?
This is one of the gcode files i tried. Im a newbie when it comes to Estlcam (and cnc in general) so maybe my settings are off but it fails in different spots every time, even on the same code
I had the Z drop on me 2x yesterday over the course of an hour.
The first time, I had homed all, Jogged the Z down to within 10 mm of the surface, turned on the router, then bam. Just dropped. I believe it was just Z0 that dropped.
Second time was in the middle of a job, 2nd pass with 3.5mm cut depth in 12.7mm plywood it dropped and yanked the bit out of the collet.
But then today I never had any issues with it dropping over about 3 hours of cutting.
I guess me moving my run amperage to .9 and hold to .8 did not solve my issue like I thought.
Posting a Pic of my wiring, wondering about EMF since the Z0 dropped as soon as I kicked on the router. Everything is ran together, but I’d expect that is normal…
